Andy Richardson: #SolidariTea brews up a storm
In the midst of the worst global pandemic for 100 years and the worst economic crash for 300 years, it’s heartening to know that Brits will be Brits.
While unemployment soars, businesses go to the wall, statues of slave traders are torn down and streets are filled with anti-racism protests, we are in a froth about tea.
It started when a far-right campaigner Tweeted Yorkshire Tea to tell them she was pleased they’d not supported Black Lives Matter. Yorkshire responded by expressing solidarity against racism and asked the campaigner not to buy its tea again.
All hell broke loose. Far-right campaigners vowed to switch from Yorkshire Tea to PG Tips – only for PG Tips to affirm its stand against racism and tell anti-BLM campaigners to find another brand.
A hashtag emerged – the brilliant #SolidariTea – and far-right protestors found themselves having to find two new tea brands, or swallow their own prejudice.
Meanwhile, in London, a Churchill memorial defaced during demonstrations was being cleaned up – by a street cleaner called Winston.
A row is brewing on the Welsh border with tourist and hospitality businesses in turmoil. Observing their English counterparts gearing up for work, they find themselves unable to trade. Stricter conditions, with a ban on movement beyond five miles, means many fear bankruptcy. In our DisUnited Kingdom, differences in cross-border regulations are starting to bite.
British theatres are also in peril. New research shows 70 per cent will close permanently if they are not open for the Christmas panto season, unless they re-open or receive a Government bail-out. Oh yes they will.
Mrs Thatcher famously told Britain that she was not for turning, unlike our present Government, which operates like a loop-the-loop pilot. The latest policy change concerns primary schools, which had been intended to reopen four weeks before the summer break. That’s no longer thought feasible and a September date has been set ‘at the earliest’. The state of Britain’s Priti Pointless air quarantine is also under pressure, with businesses saying it will harm them but not control the virus.
The big winner in Covid-19 has been the environment and coal faces a knock-out blow. The most polluting of all fossil fuels has not been burned by British power stations for 60 days, the longest period since the Industrial Revolution began more than 200 years ago.
